Sorry for the short chapter. Just wanted to get this out, to setup the rest of the story, should there be enough interest in me continuing.
Title: Via Nova 3/?
Author: Silav
Disclaimer: BtVS = NOT mine. That means I cannot have the Buffy/Faith/18-yr. old Dawn sandwich I always wanted!!! Yay me! D'oh!
Category: YOU decide
Rating: R to be safe.
Pairing: A whole slew of them. Expect Faith/Xander, definitely, as well as Buffy/Xander. Prolly more. ^_^Timeframe: Post "Entropy", but before the big events in "Seeing Red"
Spoilers: Up to "Entropy". Ye have been warned. Avast matey, thar be spoilers ahead!
Feedback: Interesting metaphor number three: Feedback is a Twinkie. I am Xander. Does Xander like Twinkies?
Author's Notes:
= Xander's thoughts/POV
"" = Xander-speak
** = Other-speak
** ** = Other-thoughts
~*~
Location: EveryWhere
Time: EveryWhen
~*~
Well, Demon Lord? Are you ready to make your next move?
{{I already have Valis.}}
Is that so? I fail to see exactly what it is that you have done…
{{Look carefully, Valis…Look carefully…}}
~*~
Location: The NullZone
Time: No-Time
~*~
"Show me what, Jesse?"
*I plan on showing you what you wanted to see, dude.*
"And how do you plan on showing me that? Some kind of spell or something? And for that matter, where the heck are we, anyway?"
*Well, in the same order, the answers are: By showing you differing realities; No, what I'm doing is beyond the scope of the petty magic you're used to; The NullZone.*
Huh?
"Ok…Run that by me again. This time in English."
*Oh for…Fine. Xand, you remember that time when you ticked Cordelia off, and she made that wish? She didn't create a new reality, she simply opened a gateway to another reality where things were…different. Think parallel universes, my man.*
Oh, parallel universes! Why didn't he say that in the first place! And people say watching science-fiction on TV isn't educational. Hah!
"Ok, I can get that. Wait, wait…If you can open a gateway to other universes, what are you? A Vengeance or wish-granting demon or something?"
*No, man! One, I'm not a demon, and two, Vengeance demons are SO little-league!*
"Well then, what are you, then?"
*It's difficult to explain…call me a sort of…Guide from the higher-ups.*
"Oh, you work for the Powers That Be? Uhmmm…I didn't think my question was THAT funny, Jesse…"
*So-so-sorry, man…It's just that no one really works for them. They're so damn cryptic that even their servants go into fits trying to decipher their instructions. But if it makes it easier to understand, sure, I work for the PTB. Indirectly, any way.*
"Ok, I can live with that. And what was that comment you made about petty magic? I've seen Wills do some pretty hefty stuff, man. She's way into the hocus-pocus thing. Too much into it, actually. Hey, Jesse…why the sad look on your face?"
*What? Oh, nothing! I just miss the old days with you and me and Wills, that's all. You know, OUR Scooby-gang…Before all the staking and world-saving and me dying happened.*
**Oh man, Xander…if only you knew exactly how deep into the magic she has fallen…and how close Willow will come to destroying everything…**
"I know what you mean, Jesse…I miss having you with me and Wills."
*Well, to continue explaining, we're now in the NullZone. It's the place where everything, including time and space break down. That's why time is static here…In this non-place, even time falls apart.*
"What, it's a black-hole or something?"
*In a way. There's no other way I can explain it without getting technical. But if you want, I could explain…well, try to explain, anyway….*
"Very funny. Please, spare me the details. No time here. That's good enough for me."
*Thought so…anyway. Since this is the place all time and space converges, it connects to the Hall of Portals. There, I'll show you a gateway…and through that gateway you will see what your life would be like if you had never fallen in love with a certain Buffy Summers. Are you ready?*
"Yeah…I want to see how different my life would have been without these…feelings of mine. I wanna see what it's like to live without torturing myself with thoughts of a certain remote impossible possibility…"
*Ok…close your eyes…*
~*~
Location: The Hall of Portals
Time: All-Time
~*~
*Xand. You can open your eyes now, dude.*
"D'oh!"
Ok…let's take stock of my situation. Instead of an endless white expanse…I see another endless expanse of white. And a whole lot of…colored doors?!
"What the heck is this, Jesse? I at least expected cool swirly-like thingies for the gateways! Not…normal doors painted in weird colors!"
*Well, there's not much I can do about the doors themselves, Xand…but the colors are a clue as to how dark the reality on the other side is, as seen through the eyes of the perceiver of the gateways. The darker the color, the darker the universe inside the gateway is. *
"So the color I see when I look at the doors tells me how happy or sad I would be in the universe on the other side, right?"
*In a nutshell, yeah.*
"And all these doors lead to worlds where I never fell in love with Buffy?"
*Yes. Behind those doors are worlds where you never fell in love with her in the first place.*
"Jesse…"
*Yeah, Xand?"
"The doors I see…they're all black."
~*~
Location: EveryWhere
Time: EveryWhen
~*~
Your masking of the colors of some of the gateways was an interesting move.
{{Truly. And since that wasn't in the original terms, it does not count as a move…therefore, I have yet to make one, correct?}}
Your altering of the playing field after the original setting of the pieces is against the rules, you know. Not that I expected you to abide by them. However, I must concede your point. Very well. The turn is yet yours.
{{Ever the honorable being, my worthy opponent. It shall yet prove to be your undoing.}}
Play, Demon Lord.
{{Indeed I shall…}}
~*~
Location: The Hall of Portals
Time: All-Time
~*~
"Why the hell are they all black?! What, am I so pathetic that I'll never be happy if I don't fall in love with Buffy?!"
*No, Xander. The only thing it means is that the events that happened in those worlds are not exactly all happy-happy joy-joy in your point of view.*
"Oh yeah? Like what? Care to give me an example? Never mind, I'll just open a door and see for myself!"
*Wait, Xander! Don't!*
Screw that! I cannot believe that I'm so whipped that I need Buffy to be happy! That's so damn pathetic!
"Aarrrrrrgh!"
*Xander!*
Should I still continue, or should I quit? FEEDBACK!!!